Festival Walk

Festival Walk is an upmarket shopping centre in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong owned by . It was the biggest shopping mall in Hong Kong at its launch in November 1998. Festival Walk was developed jointly by Swire and CITIC Pacific in 1993-1998. In 2006, Swire bought out the 50% stake held by its partner.

Location

Festival Walk is in Yau Yat Chuen, right adjacent to the , which is an interchange station of the and the of the . It is also in the vicinity of City University of Hong Kong.

Configuration

Festival Walk comprises some one million square feet of retail space: 200 shops, 27 restaurants, an 11 screen , an ice rink; of office space. There is also parking accommodation for 850 cars. The developers also installed a water-cooled air-conditioning system in 2002 at a cost of HK$13 million. The developer claims its high energy-efficiency has saved 5 million KWh each year. Although praised for its spaciousness and its public amenities, Festival Walk's array of escalators were criticised as confusing and unwisely planned in a "Rate your mall" survey in 2007.

Site challenges

Its construction commenced in 1994, and it was completed in 1998. Significant challenges were posed in the formation of the 21,000 m? site due to its terraced land form as well as its narrow land shape. The tunnels for the of the MTR run through the full length of the site.

During the construction of the building with 4 basement levels, 460,000 m? of earth had to be shifted.

Financial transactions

The development was a 50:50 joint venture between Swire and CITIC Pacific. The partners secured the plot in a Government land auction in 1993 with a HK$2.9 billion bid, and developed it at an estimated cost of $2.2 billion. In January 2006, in Hong Kong's biggest property deal, Swire paid 6.18 billion to buy out its partner's half share. In July 2007, it was announced that Swire Pacific was contemplating listing the property as a real estate investment trust.